Eddie Howe

[McCormick]

“Let’s buy undervalued players from the continent” what a novel idea that no one’s ever thought of! What a pioneer that Mitchell is. It’s the same kind of model that clubs who don’t win things employ; and the same one that Ashley put in place a decade ago.

 

I honestly never thought fans would back Mitchell over Howe after that interview and failed window but here we are.

[Sibierski]

22-23 season, when we were not scoring, we were not conceding (as much). Can laminate not taking our chances in games, but we’re giving up far too many goals/chances, and even Pope is finished with some of the weak goals he’s letting in too now.

 

Lost that cuntish edge we had in that season that pissed teams off. Just nothing appealing about us, as the flip side to being that type of team, is one that gets people off their seats and we don’t play that either. Feels all a bit emotionless and rudderless.

 

Best thing we can hope for, Howe can at least get the players onside for a siege mentality, and we get home draws in cups and use it to our advantage. 

[r0cafella]

4 minutes ago, McCormick said:

“Let’s buy undervalued players from the continent” what a novel idea that no one’s ever thought of! What a pioneer that Mitchell is. It’s the same kind of model that clubs who don’t win things employ; and the same one that Ashley put in place a decade ago.

 

I honestly never thought fans would back Mitchell over Howe after that interview and failed window but here we are.

Are people backing Mitchell or are they backing the model? Important distinction. Ultimately we've recruited ourselves into a corner, we are a team who can only play one way and when we aren't on it we look average and this is after spending the 400m. 

 

With FFP we simply can't afford the safety blanket of PL experience the premium is way too high. As fans we are probably best served in recalibrating our expectations because buying central midfielders for 60m and offering even more for centre halves seems like pure hubris. 

[McCormick]

13 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

Are people backing Mitchell or are they backing the model? Important distinction. Ultimately we've recruited ourselves into a corner, we are a team who can only play one way and when we aren't on it we look average and this is after spending the 400m. 

 

With FFP we simply can't afford the safety blanket of PL experience the premium is way too high. As fans we are probably best served in recalibrating our expectations because buying central midfielders for 60m and offering even more for centre halves seems like pure hubris. 

A model that has never once shown it can upset the apple-cart. Pretty much every club under the top 6 does this to varying degrees of “success”.

 

We were buying proven young PL stars mixed in with proven young internationals. Is it hubris sticking to the same policy that allowed us to break through in the first place? It’s baby out with the bathwater stuff.

 

The model you’re referring to is exactly what we did with Minteh yet every step over he does leads to scathing criticisms of our transfer policy.

 

 

Edited October 28, 2024 by McCormick

[nufc4eva]

We need a mixed approach, have to scout further and bring in potential while still investing in ready players in some key areas.

 

I just think there's better value for what we have to spend outside of premier league.

[r0cafella]

2 minutes ago, McCormick said:

A model that has never once shown it can upset the apple-cart. Pretty much every club under the top 6 does this to varying degrees of “success”.

 

We were buying proven young PL stars mixed in with proven young internationals. Is it hubris sticking to the same policy that allowed us to break through in the first place? It’s baby out with the bathwater stuff.

 

The model you’re referring to is exactly what we did with Minteh yet every step over he does is leads to scathing criticisms of our transfer policy.

Yes, every club uses a DOF because it's the model which is proven to actual work. The manager running the club from top to bottom is a relic for the history books at this stage. 

 

Us buying these proven young stars and internationals has shown itself to be not sustainable, you remember the end of June right? The mad scramble to fill the hole? Alright then.

 

And the model I'm suggesting isn't just to buy young players from the continent it obviously has to be holistic and apart of a wider plan including pathways for our bairns. We also have to have an open minded approach to letting players go, if I was the decision maker the likes of Burn, Pope trips Wilson Miggy Murphy would all have been sold, why? Because I need fees for them I can't hold on to them until they are worthless because replacements will cost me. As I've complained about before, we let Villa get Kamara for free and then go and buy Tonali for 60m and Tonali will be on the same wages, sheer lunacy and poor forward planning, the exact same can be said for our flirting with Elanga. 

 

TLDR. FFP means we can't afford to be a bag holder. 

[SUPERTOON]

It’s quite obvious we can’t continue to spend the way at have previously. Haven’t seen anyone backing Mitchell over Howe, rather people realising we need to change strategy. That’s what Mitchell is here to do. 

[Joe1984]

1 hour ago, r0cafella said:

Asm was sold to help offset psr, also was on the injury prone side. 

 

Selling Chris wood was 100% the correct decision as he was on the large rather poor for us and both his style and overall level isn't sufficient for where we want to be. 

Just a reminder that Chris Wood is currently on 7 PL goals this season.

 

4 goals behind Haaland and level with Palmer.

 

 

[JEToon]

What Mitchell said was, 

 

"I think the skill, whether it be personal philosophy or the demands of financial fair play (PSR) has to come into play where you have to find undervalued talent at a certain age profile"

 

I would argue Liverpool pretty much done that under Klopp other than a couple of additions, Salah fits that profile, Bruno and Isak fit that profile. It just seems like a pretty sensible strategy, it is creating a narrative that isn't there to box it into a Brighton model, it can be a million miles from that if it wants to be 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 28, 2024 by JEToon

[Menace]

  

Just now, Joe1984 said:

Just a reminder that Chris Wood is currently on 7 PL goals this season.

 

4 goals behind Haaland and level with Palmer.

 

 

 

 

What's that got to do with anything? It was absolutely the right call to sell Wood.

 

 

Edited October 28, 2024 by Menace

[r0cafella]

Just now, Joe1984 said:

Just a reminder that Chris Wood is currently on 7 PL goals this season.

 

4 goals behind Haaland and level with Palmer.

 

 

Yeah cool, he didn't look anything like that for us. Hes also 33 in December us getting what we did for him is cracking business. 

 

The collective flip flopping about Chris wood is mind blowing. 

[nufcjmc]

Just now, SUPERTOON said:

It’s quite obvious we can’t continue to spend the way at have previously. Haven’t seen anyone backing Mitchell over Howe, rather people realising we need to change strategy. That’s what Mitchell is here to do. 

On the back of this hoping that some of the kids we brought in on the back of the last few years start to make an impact either on pushing into the first team squad or provide headway money wise. 

 

We definitely need to be better sellers our issue in the short medium term is selling players who have little to no value. That's certainly a factor that's gotten us stuck our players would cost too much to replace due to the lack of money they are worth. Buying cheaper or more of a gamble player is the only way under current rules I can see we can beat it rather than offering contract extensions to kick the issue down the road a little. 

[Joe1984]

1 minute ago, Menace said:

  

 

 

What's that got to do with anything? It was absolutely the right call to sell Wood.

 

 

 

I know it was! I just find it hilarious how he's turned into a lethal striker apparently, once he left us.

[Dr Venkman]

What’s the evidence for the hypothesis that PIF will sack the head coach mid-season due to a bad run of form?

[andycap]

On the topic of asm we sold him for a pittance really and we now have no wildcard game changer to use off the bench. 

When you are sticking two keepers on the bench rather than having a dribbler that has it in him do  something I'd say we are weaker with his absence. 

 

[nufcjmc]

I mean unless they were youth players these proven premier league players had to start off somewhere alot of them come from abroad and excel here and then are snapped up. Think when you have loads of PSR headway you can get the "lesser teams" to take the gamble on them working and then pay the premium to reduce your risk on them being a success. Unfortunately we aren't there yet coupled with the fact we still aren't at the stage where we just need 1 new player a year for the first 11. 

 

Already on our shopping list is a goalkeeper, RCB, RB understudy to Tino if Trips goes, RW possibly x2, something different in midfield, a forward Wilson replacement. That's before you try and upgrade the squad in general or replace players who are out of contract or those who may wish to leave.

 

Feels like a massive rebuild looming regardless if this season was going well. 

[SUPERTOON]

Just now, andycap said:

On the topic of asm we sold him for a pittance really and we now have no wildcard game changer to use off the bench. 

When you are sticking two keepers on the bench rather than having a dribbler that has it in him do  something I'd say we are weaker with his absence. 

 

We would still have an unbalanced squad if he stayed. He also didn’t suit Howes style of play. Our problems now aren’t down to him being sold imo.

[Lotus]

Something I don’t understand is that our midfield is really very porous and easy to play through. Yet at the same time creates almost nothing going forward. We nearly always do the U shaped thing and try from the wings. Very little incisive play cutting through the lines centrally.

 

Normally when I see a midfield that can’t defend its back line It’s because it’s full of creative attacking players. Ours just can’t achieve either objective. If you’ve Bruno and Sandro as 2 out of 3 in there you’d have to think it’s not a personnel/talent problem.

[r0cafella]

2 minutes ago, Lotus said:

Something I don’t understand is that our midfield is really very porous and easy to play through. Yet at the same time creates almost nothing going forward. We nearly always do the U shaped thing and try from the wings. Very little incisive play cutting through the lines centrally.

 

Normally when I see a midfield that can’t defend its back line It’s because it’s full of creative attacking players. Ours just can’t achieve either objective. If you’ve Bruno and Sandro as 2 out of 3 in there you’d have to think it’s not a personnel/talent problem.

If you look at our shape in different phases of play we are generally doing interesting things, you'll notice a central midfielder will be really high and look to occupy a half space however the gaps between the lines become huge and our play is generally funnelled wide due to this. We lack numbers to build effectively basically. Our press is largely disjointed too and certainly doesn't look well coached. In most instances you will notice some players press whilst some players hold which also makes us easy to play through. 

 

Yesterday tactically tragedy of having Burn or Schar close down Palmer was truly one for the ages. 

[Kid Icarus]

7 hours ago, Ronaldo said:

Isak has been playing injured / out of sharpness most of the season. Can see he’s fed up with the club - see Bruno also. The fact Callum Wilson is our backup is on the manger and above. 
 

Isak and Gordon scored 37 goals between them (I think) last season. There’s too much responsibility on them stemming from the fact there’s absolutely nothing coming from the RW (failure to address) and we refuse to play with a midfielder capable of scoring them coming from deep. You cannot just absolve the manger - this is his team.

FWIW I think there are a few legit reasons you can give for why we're where we are, but framing Isak's last few performances as just him lacking sharpness, too much responsibility isn't really it either. Him and Gordon have missed clear cut chances, including a pen, that our style of play under Howe has created. If you can't absolve Howe, then I don't think you can absolve them for those those things, or anyone else responsible for the contributing factors, nor can you just cherry-pick either imo 

 

 

Edited October 28, 2024 by Kid Icarus

[Dr.Spaceman]

14 minutes ago, Dr Venkman said:

What’s the evidence for the hypothesis that PIF will sack the head coach mid-season due to a bad run of form?

 

They literally did that with the last manager...

[STM]

I think getting rid of Howe would be a disaster. 

 

Get behind him. Stay in the mix for a European push and back him in January with a couple of key signings.

 

 

[r0cafella]

2 minutes ago, STM said:

I think getting rid of Howe would be a disaster. 

 

Get behind him. Stay in the mix for a European push and back him in January with a couple of key signings.

 

 

You think we are making Europe next season?

[STM]

Just now, r0cafella said:

You think we are making Europe next season?

 

I think we could, yes.

 

Sacking Howe won't work, that I'm sure of. I've seen it all before. The key is to keep your good managers and sack the shit ones.

[bobbydazzla]

Howe has succumbed to the same old NUFC template that I've seen in most of my 30 odd years following this mental club

 

Weak at the back, usually beaten by the "big" sides, lacking shithousery, a squad that has too many players who simply aren't good enough to cut it at the top end of the top flight. It's the tried and tested NUFC way

 

Why this has happened with Howe is something that's a bit of a mystery to me given that he was outstanding in his first 1.5 seasons here and we got off to a flyer last season too

 

I love the bloke and alongside Keegan he's been the most impressive manager in my lifetime, but currently he looks like he's out of new ideas and the intensity has gone

 

 

Edited October 28, 2024 by bobbydazzla